Music

Bono hopeful for Spider Man musical

Music

Bono hopeful for Spider Man musical

Bono says his 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' musical is "a great American story" but admits is has been costly to realise.

The much delayed production - backed by the U2 singer and the band's guitarist, The Edge - opens in New York on Sunday (28.11.10), and Bono admitted that at the start of the project he didn't realise how much it would end up costing.

He told Billboard.com: "Dreaming up the show, the scale of it, the flying sequence, the pop-art opera that it is - that was all pure joy. What we didn't realise was how difficult it is to stage this stuff, both technically and financially."

The musical about the comic book character has been delayed by a series of issues including the size of the cast, at 41 people, and complexity of the stuntwork, bringing its cost to a reputed $60 million - which would make it the most expensive musical in Broadway history.

Bono added: "Is there jeopardy? Yes. Because it's technically very difficult. It has never been achieved before - the kind of scale of what we're looking for. The expense of it? A lot of it was the delays."

Bono and The Edge signed onto the musical in 2002 to write its score and collaborate with co-writer and director Julie Taymor. However, despite its long delays, the singer remains positive for the shows' sold out opening.

He added: "I think even though it looks like there's a lot of ill will against us, I think it'll turn around. If it's just spectacle, we will have failed. But if you can be moved, and if you believe these characters, and you really buy into the myth, it's a great American story."